Over 90,000 Kano rice farmers benefit from anchor borrower scheme – RIFAN

Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Kano State, has said that from 2017 to 2019, over 90,000 Kano rice farmers benefited from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrower Scheme. The state chapter chairman of RIFAN, Alhaji Abubakar Haruna Aliyu, said it was untrue to say the state has not benefited from the federal […]

Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), Kano State, has said that from 2017 to 2019, over 90,000 Kano rice farmers benefited from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrower Scheme.

The state chapter chairman of RIFAN, Alhaji Abubakar Haruna Aliyu, said it was untrue to say the state has not benefited from the federal government intervention on rice.

According to him, rice farmers in Kano (both dry and wet season farmers) have been accessing the FG’s intervention scheme.

“Honestly, it’s not fair to state that rice farmers in Kano State have not been accessing FG’s intervention on rice farming in the state.  In 2017, 24,000 farmers from 8 clusters in Kano State benefited from the scheme during the dry season farming period and in the 2018 wet season period, over 44,000 farmers from 11 clusters benefited.  Moreover, this year, 28,000 farmers from 7 clusters benefited,” the chairman said.

The chairman added that the assertion that a single individual cultivating 200,000 hectares of land and harvesting 250 bags per hectare without receiving any federal government intervention is not realistic, but a mere exaggeration, adding that the association was shocked to read that federal government intervention doesn’t reach rice farmers.